How do you feel about possibilites for 2014?

Pope Francis leaves Rome's Jesus' Church after celebrating a mass with the Jesuits, on the occasion of the order's titular feast, Friday, Jan. 3. The pope's actions are one of the reasons community blogger John W. Eyster is hopeful about 2014.

I awoke Jan. 1 with a surge of HOPE for New Year 2014! I did NOT stay up to welcome New Year 2014 at midnight, but I have been following the welcoming events for New Year 2014 throughout the world via BBC News, Norwegian Broadcasting's “Dagsrevy” and other electronic and print media. These welcoming events bolstered my HOPE for New Year 2014! How did you feel as you welcomed New Year 2014?

Van Gelder grabbed my attention with her opening paragraph, “There was something almost apocalyptic about 2013. Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines, the strongest storm ever recorded on land. It killed more than 6,000 people and affected millions. But it was just one of the 39 weather-related disasters costing $1 billion or more in 2013.”

She catalogs major natural disasters with the theme of “apocalyptic.” Then she shifts the perspective to HOPEFUL developments in 2013, “a new pope focused on inequality, successful minimum wage campaigns spread across the country, and the number of states allowing gay marriage doubled.”

She puts the spotlight on responses to the threat of the climate crisis which she asserts is a seed sown this year (2013) that could make 2014 transformational. I am impressed by the 10 SEEDS OF HOPE which Van Gelder identifies, are YOU? I ask you to read the content of her case for each SEED before you comment, please:

1. We saw surprising new leadership on the climate issue

2. Native peoples took the lead in the fossil fuel fight

3. The middle and lower classes fought for economic justice

4. A new economy is in the making

5. U.S. military strikes didn't happen

6. Pope Francis called for care and justice for the poor...

7. Gays and lesbians got some respect

8. There were new openings for a third party

9. Alternatives to Obamacare are in the works

10. An education uprising began

Van Gelder concludes, “We live in interesting times, indeed. The growing climate emergency could eclipse all the other issues, and the sooner we get on it, the more we can use the transition for innovations that have other positive spin-offs.

“There's not a moment to lose.” NOT A MOMENT TO LOSE… here we go…

I PRAY FOR HUMANKIND – all the people of the world – a New Year 2014 during which the seeds of 2013 germinate and mature. I have audacity of hope for 2014. Do you?

Last updated: 7:23 pm Friday, January 3, 2014

John W. Eyster lives in the Edgerton area. He is an adjunct professor assigned with the online/distance education faculty of Viterbo University, LaCrosse. He continues his personal mission supporting democracy/civics education in Wisconsin K-12 schools through Project Citizen, We the People, Discovering Democracy (Milton HS). John is a community blogger and is not a part of The Gazette staff or management.